Fireplace stove



March 8, 1955 J. A. MANCHESTER ET AL FIREPLACE STOVE 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 17, 1953 MANCHESTER INVENTORS '3- DONN PIERCE JOHN A FIG March 1955 J. A. MANCHESTER ET AL 2,703,567

FIREPLACE STOVE Filed Aug. 17, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet '2 JOHN A. MANCHESTER INVENTORS United States Patent FIREPLACE STOVE John A. Manchester and Donn Pierce, Medina, Wash. Application August 17, 1953, Serial No. 374,685

7 Claims. (Cl. 126-121) This present invention relates generally to the art of fireplace stoves and is further characterized by design features which adapt the stove for use, to serve a variety of purposes and to most especially suit it for use in the modern or functional form of home decoration. This fireplace stove is proportioned to give the pleasing and useful efiect of the conventional fireplace and employs a steel plate fire box which is then surrounded on all the closed sides of the fire box with an air plenum so as to make the stove an etficient heating unit. In most cases this stove fully meets the heating requirements of the room in which it is used and secondly 'the outer casing protects the occupants of the room, especially small children, from coming in contact with any surface that is hot enough to be unpleasant or harmful. Means are further provided to insure the long continued usage of this stove by properly battling the unit so that it will not be warped out of shape by spot heating through long continued use.

The use of fireplace stoves actually ante-dates the heating and cooking stoves that have been used so generally for the last 75 years. The fireplace stove had as its purpose the provision of a heating unit, economical of fuel, that could be easily installed in a finished unit or could be put in place in new construction at a reduced cost over the conventional built-in fireplace.

Such stoves in the past have normally been constructed of cast iron and often employed clay products or ceramic tiles in order to safeguard the heat-contacting portions against the phenomena of growth" which is the general elongation of certain portions due to repeated heating and cooling. This phenomena is particularly noted in grate bars that are used intermittently. This same phenomena has been encountered when attempts have been made to use steel plate liners for fireplaces. The problem was greatly aggravated however when it became desirable to weld steel plate into a fixed form. This latter construction is noteworthy for its cheapness in manufacture and the fact that many pleasing decorative designs can be produced. This present invention therefore deals with this problem as relates to the welded-together steel plate fireplace stove and provisions have been made which have proven to overcome the many-observed difficulties of former constructions.

The principal object of this present invention is to provide a fireplace stove of doublewalled construction wherein the inner and outer shells are welded together in a single homogeneous unit.

A further object of this invention is to provide a steel plate construction for fireplace stoves wherein the normal appearance and function of the fireplace can be maintained over long periods of use.

A further object of this invention is to provide a fireplace stove which is characterized by neatness of design and which can be constructed and installed ready for use at a minimum expense.

A further object of this invention is to provide an efficient means for heating a large volume of air and to assist in the convectional flow of heating air to the end that an entire room can be comfortably heated.

A further object of this invention is to provide means to insure that the damaging effect of repeated heating and cooling can be reduced to a sufliciently low level and to give long useful life in the unit.

Further objects, advantages and capabilities will be apparent from the descr ption and disclosure in the drawings, or may be comprehended or are inherent in the device.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating a preferred form of the embodiment of this present invention;

Figure 2 is a vertical, cross-sectional view taken in the transverse plane passing through the center of the smoke flue;

Figure 3 is a vertical, cross-sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is a perspective view partly broken away and sectioned to more fully illustrate certain details of structure.

Referring more particularly to the disclosure in the drawings, the numeral 10 designates generally the fire box of our fireplace stove. This is formed of a plurality of sheets which are joined together, or formed by bending the same, and welding the same. This construction forms a fire box having a bottom or hearth plate 12, a back plate 14, and end plates 16 and 18. In order to provide one of the characteristics that distinguish a fireplace from a stove, we have provided the smoke shelf 20. This plate is normally joined as by welding to the back plate 14 and the two end plates 16 and 18. Plate 20 provides not only the conventional smoke shelf but it also provides the sloping backing plate for the fireplace which causes the flames of the fire to take a circuitous course from hearth 12 to the smoke flue 22. The angularly disposed plate also provides the reflection of a large amount of the heat generated out into the room so that persons sitting in front of this fireplace stove enjoy the full effect of the radiant energy form of heating that has made fireplaces so desirable throughout their history. It is to be noted that end plates 16 and 18 are so positioned that they have a chance to bend' somewhat and thus yield tothe expansion or contraction of plate 20. This is a very desirable feature of this structure in that it provides an assembly of long life expectancy wherein distortion does not occur as is normally experienced where a plate is heated but held. permanently on its margins. Such structures soon destroy themselves. The fire box 10 proper is surrounded on the bottom, both ends, and back, by a plenum chamber. This chamber is provided by the back wall 30, the bottom wall 32, and the end walls 34 and 36. The fire box is normally supported from the bottom wall 32 by means of preferably two steel plates 38 and 39. These plates may bend to permit a movement of hearth plate 12 when it tends to expand or contract under heating or cooling. The fire box 10 and the outer shell have in common the top plate 40 to which the smoke flue collar 22 is secured. The front margins around the firebox as the two vertical margins and the lower margins are joined by frame-like plates having portions 42, 43 and 44. In order to balance the frame effect and to provide a definite guide for the movement of air as well as to strengthen top plate 40, a downwardly extending front plate 46 is provided which at its lower margin is inturned at 48 so as to carry out the smooth framing effect of the front of the fireplace.

Experience has shown that the point of greatest heat is usually experienced immediately above the upper edge 50 of plate 20. Therefore it is necessary to provide a baflle to shield the same and provide an air wash to protect the upper plate 40 against the distorting efiect of this high intense heat. Referring particularly to Figures 2 and 4 it is to be noted that a separate plate 52 is provided. This plate has a downwardly extending curve and a slanting tangent portion 54 and is cut out as at 55 on an arc struck from the center of the smoke flue 22. Plate 52 is spaced downwardly from plate 40 so as to provide for the passage of outside cool air over this point and the intake of air is provided between the inner margin of the inturned portion 48 of plate 40 and the angularly disposed skirt 54 of plate 52. There is naturally considerable draft through the stack secured to smoke flue collar 22 and this creates a suction which draws cold outside air through the passageway provided between plates 40 and 52. This action tempers the temperature of plate 40 and keeps it well below any temperature which might be objectionable. By thus reducing the temperature of plate 40, it is not subject to the extremes of expansion and contraction which otherwise would cause the same to buckle at the point where it receives the full heating efiect of the flames produced by the fuel. Plate 52 of course is positioned where it is naturally subjected to the full range of temperature and in order to prevent the same from buckling 'or being permanently warped, it is provided with a plurality of supporting brackets 60 which are normally secured to walls 16 and 18 as by rivets or bolts and the attachments between brackets 60 and plate 52 are again either rivets r bolts with a freedom which is suggested by the elongation of the openings at 62. The bolts or rivets securing plate 52 to bracket 60 should not be set up tight but rather permit the bafile plate to expand or contract freely according to conditions under which it is working and all this without in any way placing strain or stress upon the end walls 16 and 18.

The outstanding object of the double-walled construction of this fireplace stove is to provide an outer shell which will be maintained at a safe temperature, and secondly, to provide for the heating of a large amount of air so as to provide a convectional heating plant within the room heated by the fireplace stove. To serve this purpose then a plurality of air intake openings is provided as at 66, which is at the low point of the plenum chamber, and at the front margin of the hearth 12, so that air will normally circulate horizontally under plate 12 and up around both ends 16 and 18 and out conveniently positioned discharge openings as 70. These openings are all preferably provided with suitable screens as 72 so that objects cannot be placed, particularly by children, in the double-walled structure.

Attention is invited to the general proportions of the fireplace and particularly the proportions of the air passageways around the fireplace. These passageways are preferably considerably wider than is actually required to move the amount of air which can be introduced into openings 66 and pass out through openings 70, the purpose of this being to have air impinge upon the heated surfaces 12, 14, 16, and 18 and then to have this highly heated air intermingled with a larger body of air within the plenum chamber before it is discharged out through openings 70. This obviates any question of having air discharged from the device at an unpleasantly high temperature. Suitable supports are provided at 72 and 74 to support the fireplace stove otf the floor.

A square bar 76 extends under top plate 40 immedi ately forward 'of stack 22 to assist in supporting the weight of the stack and to prevent bowing of the top plate if it is heated excessively. Further. this construction of the cooling air passage between plates 40 and 52 tends to distribute the cooling air over the length of the plates.

It is believed that it will be clearly apparent from the above description and the disclosure in the drawings that the invention comprehends a novel construction of a fireplace stove.

Having thus disclosed the invention, we claim:

1. A furnace-type stove, comprising: an inner housing formed of sheet steel having a bottom hearth plate. a back plate, an upper plate and two end plates secured together forming a fire box; an outer housing formed of sheet steel having a bottom plate, a back plate and two end plates secured together and enclosing said inner housing with the respective bottom, back and end plates spaced apart forming a plenum chamber outside of said fire box, a front plate having a first U-shaped section extending between and securing together in pairs the front edges of said bottom and end plates, a second section of said front plate depending from the front edge of said upper plate and terminating in a lower flange inturned into the fire box. said upper plate having an opening in its rear central portion and a smoke stack secured in said opening, a smoke shelf plate extending between and secured to the end plates and back plate of said inner housing and extending forward over half way to the front of the fire box and rising from said back plate to its forward edge; a bafile plate having a substantially horizontal portion extending between the end plates of said inner housing and positioned a short distance below said upper plate and a short distanceabove said forward edge of said-smoke shelf plate, said bafiie plate extending from a point spaced a short distance from said inturned lower flange to a point more than half way to the rear of said fire box, said baffic plate having a flange portion extending downwardly and inwardly from its forward edge; and said outer housing having upper and lower openings therein permitting air from outside of the stove to circulate around said fire box.

2. A furnace-type stove, comprising: an inner housing having a bottom hearth plate, a back plate, an upper plate and two end plates secured together forming a fire box; an outer housing having a bottom plate, a back plate and two end plates secured together and enclosing said inner housing with the respective bottom, back and end plates spaced apart forming a plenum chamber outside of said fire box, a front plate having a first section extending between and securing together in pairs the front edges of said bottom and end plates, said front plate having a second section depending from the front edge of said upper plate, said outer housing having an opening in its upper portion and a smoke stack secured in said opening communicating with the inside of said fire box, a smoke shelf plate extending between and secured to the end plates and back plate of said inner housing and rising from said back plate to its forward edge, said back plate and said end plates of said inner housing being secured to said outer housing only at their upper edges and the forward edges of the end plates whereby they are free to bow in and out as said smoke shelf plate expands and contracts; a battle plate extending between the end plates of said inner housing and positioned a short distance below said upper plate and a short distance above said forward edge of said smoke shelf plate, said bafiie plate extending from the forward portion of said fire box to a point to the rear of said forward edge of said smoke shelf plate; and said outer housing being vented to the outside thereof at upper and lower points permitting air from outside of the stove to circulate around said fire box.

3. A furnace-type stove, comprising: an inner housing having a bottom hearth plate, a back plate, an upper plate and two end plates secured together forming a fire box; an outer housing having a bottom plate, a back plate and two end plates secured together and enclosing said inner housing with the respective bottom, back and end plates spaced apart forming a plenum chamber outside of said fire box, a front plate extending between and securing together in pairs the front edges of said bottom and end plates, said outer housing having an opening in its upper portion and a smoke stack secured in said opening communicating with the inside of said fire box, a smoke shelf plate extending between and secured to the end plates and back plate of said inner housing and rising from said back plate to its forward edge. said back plate and said end plates of said inner housing being secured to said outer housing only at their upper edges and the forward edges of the end plates whereby they are free to bow in and out as said smoke shelf plate expands and contracts; a bafile plate extending between the end plates of said inner housing and positioned a short distance below said upper plate and a short distance above said forward edge of said smoke shelf plate. said baffle plate extending from the forward portion of said firebox to a point to the rear of said forward edge of said smoke shelf plate, said baffle plate being slightly shorter than the distance between the end plates of the inner housing and means securing said bafiie plate to the inner housing permitting free expansion of said bafiie plate; and said outer housing being vented to the outside thereof at upper and lower points permitting air fbrom outside of the stove to circulate around said fire 4. A furnace-type stove, comprising: an inner housing having bottom, back, upper and end walls and open at its front forming a fire box; an outer housing having walls corresponding to the walls of the inner housing and spaced therefrom forming a plenum chamber and including front walls sealing the corresponding bottom and end walls at the front of the stove and said outer housing having means permitting outside air to enter the lower part of the plenum chamber and to leave from the upper part of the same, said outer housing having an opening in its upper portion and a smoke stack secured in said open ing communicating with the inside of said fire box, a smoke shelf plate extending between and secured to the end walls and back wall of said inner housing and rising from said back to front thereof, said back wall and end walls of said inner housing being formed of steel sheets and said back wall of said inner housing being free from said outer housing between its upper and lower edges and said end walls of said inner housing being free from said outer housing between their upper, lower and front edges whereby the walls supporting the smoke shelf plate may bow in and out as the smoke shelf plate expands and contracts; a baflie plate extending between the end walls of said inner housing and positioned a short distance below said upper plate and a short distance above said forward edge of said smoke shelf plate, said bafile plate extending from the forward portion of the fire box to a point to the rear of the forward edge of said smoke shelf plate, said bafile plate being supported by the end walls of the inner housing in a manner permitting edgewise expansion-thereof.

5. A furnace-type stove, comprising: an inner housing having bottom, back, upper and end walls and open at its front forming a fire box; an outer housing having walls corresponding to the walls of the inner housing and spaced therefrom forming a plenum chamber and including means sealing the corresponding bottom and end walls at the front of the stove, a pair of spacedapart upright steel plates positioned between and se cured to the bottom walls of the inner and outer housing and extending in a direction from front to back of the stove, said outer housing having means in its upper portion forming a smoke stack communicating with the inside of said fire box, a smoke shelf plate extending bctween and secured to the end walls and back wall of said inner housing and rising from back to front thereof, said back wall, end walls and bottom wall of said inner housing being formed of steel sheets and said back wall of said inner housing being secured to said outer ho ising only at their upper and forward edges and by said upright plates whereby the walls supporting the smoke shelf plate may bow in and out as the smoke shelf plate contracts and expands; a baffle plate extending between the end walls of said inner housing and positioned a short distance below said upper plate and a short distance above said forward edge of said smoke shelf plate and extending from the forward portion of the fire box to a point to the rear of the forward edge of the smoke shelf plate, said bafile plate being supported by the end walls of the inner housing in a manner permitting edgewise expansion thereof.

6. The subject matter of claim 5 in which said baflle plate is supported by the end walls of said inner housing by brackets secured to the end walls of the inner housing having elongated slots and headed securing means on said baflle plate positioned in said slots to move therein during said edgewise expansion of said baffie plate.

7. A furnace-type stove, comprising: an inner housing formed of sheet steel having a bottom hearth plate, a back plate, an upper plate and two end plates secured together forming a fire box and formed of sheet steel; an outer housing having a bottom plate, a back plate and two end plates secured together and enclosing said inner housing with the respective bottom, back and end plates spaced apart forming a plenum chamber outside of said fire box, a front plate having a first U-shaped section extending between and securing together in pairs the front edges of said bottom and end plates, 21 second section of said front plate depending from the front edge of said upper plate, said upper plate having an opening therein and a smoke stack secured in said opening, a smoke shelf plate extending between and secured to the end plates and back plate of said inner housing and rising from said back plate to its forward edge; a baffle plate having a first portion extending between the end plates of said inner housing and positioned a short distance below said upper plate and a short distance above said forward edge of said smoke shelf plate, said baffle plate extending from the forward portion of said fire box to a point to the rear of said forward edge of. said smoke shelf plate; and said outer housing being vented to the outside thereof at upper and lower points permitting air from outside of the stove to circulate around said fire box.

No references cited. 

